Brendan Fraser ends career comeback with Oscar win

Brendan Fraser's Best Actor Oscar on Sunday for his powerful performance as the morbidly obese man in 'The Whale' caps a remarkable career comeback for the charismatic leading man.

The former star of 1990s hits such as 'The Mummy' endured a decade in the Hollywood wilderness before winning over Academy voters with his portrayal of a reclusive teacher who eats sorely. compulsively as he is tormented by grief.

"So this is what the multiverse looks like," an emotional Fraser told the audience at the Dolby Theater.

"I started in this business 30 years ago, and it didn't come easy to me, but there was an ease that I didn't appreciate at the time until she stops," he said, referring to his long absence from the big screen.

"Thank you for this recognition."

In Darren Aronofsky's "The Whale," Fraser plays Charlie, a 600-pound (250-kilogram) English teacher whose only regular contact with the real world is his nurse and friend Liz (Hong Chau).

Charlie rarely leaves his couch, teaches his students via video calls while gorging on delivery food, and resists Liz's pleas for medical help for her rapidly deteriorating health.

The drama follows Charlie's attempts to secretly reconnect with his rebellious and aloof teenage daughter Ellie, while he is also visited by a young missionary who seems determined to save him.

Fraser delivers an intense performance, imbuing his character with depths of regret and agony that are punctuated with bursts of passion and hope sparked by Ellie's presence.

"Charlie is by far the most heroic man I've ever played," Fraser said at the film's world premiere in Venice last year.

"His superpower is to see the good in others and bring it out in them."

– “The Mummy” –

Fraser was born in December 1968 to Canadian parents in the US state of Indiana.

Theatre sparked his interest in comedy from an early age, and after graduating from an arts college in Seattle, Fraser moved to Los Angeles in the early 1990s to pursue his dream.< /p>

Success came quickly: he landed his breakthrough role as the frozen caveman discovered by two modern-day California teenagers in the hit comedy "Encino Man" in 1992.

It sparked a string of major roles for the tall, handsome, wide-eyed leading man, ranging from anti-Semitic drama "School Ties" to rock-and-roll comedy "Airheads" to blockbuster "George of the Jungle" family. ."

In 1998, Fraser married actress Afton Smith, with whom he had three children.

Fraser's greatest commercial success would be his "The Mummy" trilogy of films.

Loosely inspired by the ancient Egyptian horror film franchise of the 1930s, the films star Fraser as Rick O'Connell, a maverick American adventurer who battles sinister immortals and avid treasure hunters.

Together, the film and its two sequels grossed well over $1 billion, also spawning the "Scorpion King" spin-off film series and a poorly received 2017 Tom Cruise reboot.

Fraser also starred opposite Liz Hurley in a 2000 remake of "Bedazzled" and helmed the action-animation hybrid "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" three years later.

– Lost Decade –

But Fraser's A-list career would soon be derailed.

In 2003, Fraser was allegedly sexually assaulted by a former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which distributes the Golden Globes.

Fraser did not go public with the incident until more than a decade later, saying in an interview that he had been blacklisted by the industry after accusing Philip Berk of groping him during a a lunch at the hotel in Beverly Hills.

Berk denies the incident.

But Fraser said the psychological impact of the alleged attack, combined with the industry response and a bitter and costly divorce from Smith, all took their toll on his mental health.

Fraser declined to attend this year's Golden Globes, despite being nominated for 'The Whale,' due to his past with the band.

In the 2000s, he also suffered a series of physical injuries – many of which were picked up on set during his action movie stunt sequences – which ultimately required multiple surgeries over a span of seven years. years to the knees, back and vocal cords.< /p>

While he appeared in 2004 Best Picture Oscar-winning 'Crash' and starred in the hospital sitcom 'Scrubs', big-screen roles quickly came to an end. dried up and Fraser has largely disappeared from the public eye.

– ‘Brenaissance’ –

Fraser's comeback - dubbed the "Brenaissance" by fans - began in earnest with a villainous role in the third season of the hit TV drama "The Affair."

But it was his role in 'The Whale,' which aptly tells his own story of redemption, that brought him back to stardom, with Hollywood flocking to praise his vulnerable and heartfelt performance.

As the Oscars approached, he won a Critics Choice award and a Screen Actors Guild award.

Future plans for Fraser, including...